Former NBA Commissioner David Stern, says that rules in sports governing marijuana use are “antiquated,” and that it’s time for the sports world to embrace weed.
Appearing on a podcast with former NBA player and marijuana entrepreneur Al Harrington, Stern made his case that the time has for various sports league’s to change their thinking when it comes to pot.
Stern said, “I’m now at the point where, personally, I think [weed] probably should be removed from the ban list.”
Stern went on to say, “I think we have to change the Collective Bargaining Agreement and let you do what is legal in your state. If marijuana is now in the process of being legalized, I think you should be allowed to do what’s legal in your state.”
From a practical standpoint, Stern’s solution makes a lot of sense. Speaking personally, it doesn’t make any sense for sports league’s to spend enormous amounts of time, energy, and money, testing for substances that are legal in half the country, to varying degrees. Especially since marijuana is not considered a performance enhancing drug. If the drug is in the process of mass legalization and it’s not a performance enhancer, then why should the league’s care?
Yet, there are unintended consequences involving Stern’s idea as well. For example, money talks in sports, we all know this. What happens if a free agent is deciding between two teams offering essentially the same amount of money? If he’s a marijuana user and he’s choosing between the Rockets and the Lakers, California’s far more relaxed weed laws could push him towards signing with the Lakers.
In other words, the new rule could result in a competitive imbalance. Teams from states with stricter marijuana laws would have to offer more money to get players, when negotiating against teams coming from states with more relaxed laws.
Meaning organizations like the NBA might just have to legalize weed league-wide, in order to make sure they don’t end up hurting some teams and helping others.